‘Many Delhi schools don’t have science, commerce stream’

A petition was filed on Thursday before the Delhi High Court alleging that majority of government schools here are not facilitating science and commerce streams at intermediate level to students.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) pointed out that the distribution of schools offering science and commerce streams is “alarmingly uneven”.

The petition filed by advocate Yusuf Naqi said that out of a total of 1,029 schools in the national capital, only 279 offered science stream to Class 11 and 12 students, while commerce was offered in 613 schools.

Depriving students from taking science or commerce stream at intermediate level amounts to “depriving them of their right to choose a profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business of her own choice as guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India”, said the plea.

“It is evident from the government records that there are ‘shadow pockets’ in different regions of Delhi that do not offer science and commerce streams at all, in their academic curriculum,” the petition said.

It added that in central Delhi, only two government schools out of a total of 41 have science stream in their curriculum.